{ "description": "Browse aymeric's, an independent, searchable archive of readable snapshots from followed feeds, preserved in Git with aggr.", "feed_url": "https://aggr.aymericbeaumet.com/sources/dbushell.com/feed.json", "home_page_url": "https://aggr.aymericbeaumet.com/sources/dbushell.com/", "items": [ { "authors": [ { "name": "dbushell.com via isuffix" } ], "content_html": "

The time has come to address the elephant in the comments.

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Whenever my blog hits a place with a comments section the most predictable comment I see — besides some variation of “this idiot is utterly delusional!”† — is this one:

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lol I read the domain as “D-Bus Hell”

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Random commenter

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I’d prefer if they focused on my actual blog content but I can’t get annoyed at people for seeing the wrong words. There’s a reason experts-exchange.com has a hyphen, and who can forget Susan’s party? I’d probably read “D-Bus Hell” myself, if I forgot my own name.

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† Why is Hacker News like that?

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But for the sake of the record I would like to point you to your nearest WHOIS tool:

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$ whois dbushell.com\n\nDomain Name: DBUSHELL.COM\nCreation Date: 2004-05-14T22:51:48Z\n
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Don’t ask me what I was doing at ten minutes to midnight registering a domain name. Is there a more appropriate time? The significant point is the date: May 2004.

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That was 22 years ago.

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Now if I may direct your attention to the D-Bus project Wikipedia page:

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Release November 2006; 19 years ago

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D-Bus - Wikipedia

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I rest my case.

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The D-Bus project doesn’t even have it’s own domain name, for crying out loud!

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So next time you see a post about D-Bus, maybe drop a comment saying: “reminds me of that dummy with a blog and a giant logo spelling out his full name!” Or something to that effect. (I’m joking, don’t do that.)

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What’s in a name

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To date I’ve resisted the siren call of nominative determinism so I can’t answer to whether D-Bus is actually hell or not. I considered writing a D-Bus review as a joke, but then I decided to watch paint dry. I’ve never heard Linux nerds express any strong opinions on the topic (for which they’re prone to do; see Systemd, Wayland, etc.)

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I did go down the Wikipedia rabbit hole of cognitive psychology and linguistics. There’s an interesting read on Rebracketing where a word like “Hamburger” becomes “ham + burger” which was altered from the origin: “Hamburg + er”. This is a form of Folk etymology where words can change due to unfamiliarity.

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Etymology

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My surname could simply come from “bushel”. An imperial unit of volume still favoured by fantasy novels, before the Trollocs attack and shit gets real. “Bushel” dates back to Middle English with origins in the Old French word “boissel”.

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At the risk of being part French, I’m inclined to believe an alternate theory that my name derives from “Bossall” a hamlet in North Yorkshire. But that would make me part Yorkshireman. I’m not sure which is worse.

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It’s not a very common surname. If this Geneanet heat map has any credibility, the name favours the south of England. That might support the French theory? Liverpool has the highest number of Bushells though.

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Bushells is also an Australian brand of tea founded by tea dealer Alfred Bushell in 1883. Alfred was born in Worcestershire, England (pronounced: Wrcstrshr).

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Interestingly, Wikipedia notes:

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After the Norman conquest of England; the Domesday Book noted in 1086 that in seven of the twelve hundreds covering Worcestershire, the Crown had no authority.

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Worcestershire - Wikipedia

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The Domesday Book always references Bossall (the Yorkshire hamlet) as Boscele or Bosciale; names that are Anglo Saxon in origin.

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When I say “Bushell” over the phone my pronunciation is often mistaken for saying “Buchel”. Some sources say they’re from the same Anglo Saxon origin. These distribution maps for Bushell and Buchel cast doubt on that idea (if Forebears data is accurate). “Büchel” also has different origins if you stick an umlaut on it.

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I suspect I’m dealing with multiple different names of Anglo Saxon and Norman origin. There are many spelling variations of “Bushell” and similar names in historic records (though few have survived). Most people were illiterate until recent decades so spelling variations are not surprising. It seems probable to me that whenever families adopted a spelling, a variation from the wrong lineage could’ve been written due to phonetic differences. Even if I traced my ancestry back hundreds of years, I’d likely reach a moment when a scribe wrote “Bushell” in some form and my ancestor just shrugged because he couldn’t read.

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The etymology of “David” is well known despite being much older. Its roots are Hebrew meaning “beloved” and has found its way across Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

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D-Bus is “Desktop Bus” if you were too lazy to click the link.

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What’s in a domain name

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Domain names are a strange system. They’re temporary URIs that are leased and inevitably lost. I’ve spent half my life publishing content on dbushell.com. I started using it seriously once I had a design portfolio. If you’re curious you can see past versions at:

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legacy.dbushell.com

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In hindsight if I knew I was going to build a career around my website I’d have chosen something more memorable. Imagine all the common words that were still untouched in 2004? dave.co.uk wasn’t taken until 2005! I don’t actually go by “Dave” myself but like the “D-Bus” thing it’s not my choice to make.

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For a brief moment I did consider moving to another domain. I would have had to maintain redirects forever. It’s not a sensible “SEO” manoeuvre either, if that matters anymore…

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Now that I’m running my business from valleyfold.co.uk I’m happy I stuck with dbushell.com for my personal space.

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Anyway, next time you spot the “D-Bus” comment please direct them there!

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Better yet, take up this blog challenge: write about the etymology behind your name and domain name.

\n", "date_modified": "2026-10-11T20:36:07+00:00", "date_published": "2026-10-11T20:36:07+00:00", "external_url": "https://dbushell.com/2026/10/11/d-bus-hell/", "id": "urn:aggr:item:ba2992755f8c90b264062e6af11ddcec86cf714b", "summary": "Comments", "tags": [ "news", "person", "satire" ], "title": "D-Bus Hell", "url": "https://aggr.aymericbeaumet.com/items/lobste-rs/2026-10-11-d-bus-hell/" }, { "authors": [ { "name": "dbushell.com via nrvous" } ], "content_html": "

For better or worse the web industry is going through a bit of a phase. The reasons are largely irrational. People still need the web, nothing has changed there. Regardless, the financials of this business are a struggle. Longterm career prospects are looking dicey.

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Because I openly reject the driving force intent on destroying my profession, and ruffle a few feathers doing so, I often get asked privately for advice from like-minded peers. I can only offer an uninspired but sensible reply: don’t quit a paying job without a fallback. Go to the Winchester, have a nice cold pint, and wait for all of this to blow over.

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\"Characters

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Characters from Shaun of the Dead (2004) enjoying drinks in the Winchester pub. Simon Pegg's character is holding a pint in a cheers pose and is winking at the camera.

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I’m confident the situation will improve. Before it does, what can we focus on to accelerate past the intellectual slump, and better position ourselves once things calm down?

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What’s in

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For a sustainable web career, where better to look than critical skills in desperately short supply? My focus is on front-end development, but these areas of knowledge are relevant to anyone in the business of making websites.

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Accessibility

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Accessibility has always been a foundation of web development but it’s never been more critical for everyone to champion it. Understand why accessibility is for everyone. Learn how to talk about accessibility in respect to real needs and practical implementation.

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Accessibility has unfortunately become a virtue signal for certain tech groups. (I’m told LinkedIn is rife with misinformation.) Accessibility is not a feature that can be tacked on to a website like garnish. Accessibility issues can’t be fixed with an automated process at the end. Web professionals must be able to counter this mindset by respecting accessibility in all decisions from day one.

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Learn and adopt the guidelines as your baseline. Speak to and test with real people. Defer to specialists who are eager for you to understand the realities.

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CSS (in stylesheets)

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CSS is the most vibrant and evolving of the front-end standards. To architecture a good stylesheet takes deep understanding of the language features. Newer features like cascade layers and selectors that reduce specificity make this much easier.

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CSS has always been equipped to handle well organised styles, but developers who refuse to learn and respect the language have sought to push complexity elsewhere, using simplified abstractions or “CSS-in-JS” solutions. These are inherently limiting, lead to poor performance, and don’t actually solve the problems they claim.

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CSS should be hard and learning it will give you the ability to express creativity beyond cookie cutter web design. CSS skills will be highly desirable as more websites wish to stand out against the convergence of a generated aesthetic.

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Communication skills

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Communication is a “soft skill” in short supply (for obvious reasons). It’s a great skill if you wish to stand out as an expert, or simply be heard amongst the noise. Learn brevity and focus on important points. Don’t be afraid to ask questions.

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Address concerns tactfully and early before they escalate. Don’t point fingers, but “cover your ass” — everyone on a project should be working towards the same goal, but some may be misguided in their approach. Remain positive and don’t meet negativity head-on.

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If you can communicate well you’ll be highly respected in your role.

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Rejecting fascism

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You probably weren’t expecting this one, but here we are.

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The luxury of not “getting political” has abated. Far-right political ideology is on the rise and dormant hatred is waking up in tech. The epicentre of fash-tech is Musk’s “X” with people like David Heinemeier Hansson spewing racism and abusing authority in communities to push an agenda, and Guillermo Rauch taking a selfie with a war criminal. Large tech giants like Digital Ocean are funding this power grab. Be wary of those denying this threat.

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If you want to avoid being pushed away from this industry, recognise and reject fascism before it comes for you. Don’t stay silent.

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What’s out

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I’ve covered topics that’ll see us well for the future, but what should we forget?

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React

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Facebook’s experiment turned cargo cult is a legacy framework that still lingers, but there’s no reason to learn it today. React has entrenched itself as a lingua franca of code extruders. React code is generated faster than any human can possibly read it. Suffice it to say that despite stale job vacancies still demanding experience, React is not worth investing time. The days of high-paying React development are numbered.

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GitHub

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GitHub is now a liability. For private repositories use self-hosted git forges. I’d recommend Forgejo. One of the many Tailscale-like services is an easy way to gate remote access. Don’t make stuff public for the dead internet to attack! For CI/CD go local too, or use independent services not tied to tech giants. Take the time to learn basic git commands. A little technical and infrastructure knowledge goes a long way.

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Influencers

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These people are handsome, charismatic, highly personable. I’m talking about: developer relations, youtubers, start-up founders, etc. When the tech industry met us halfway, influencers were entertaining and a good chinwag at after parties. Now the game has changed and we should not allow false narratives to dominate and dictate a closed-web future. Normal people still use the web. Incredibly few can afford to pay for the novelties that influencers peddle. Their attention economy is no longer our concern.

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So that’s my focus for a sustainable web career, when all this blows over.

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Remember that above all else: the web is a human creation for human needs. Those needs are not going anywhere. Drop the dead weight accumulated in times of prosperity. Go back to basics and position yourself well for when professional demand returns.

\n", "date_modified": "2026-10-06T18:29:11+00:00", "date_published": "2026-10-06T18:29:11+00:00", "external_url": "https://dbushell.com/2026/10/07/sustainable-web-career/", "id": "urn:aggr:item:923dfab174f04fd90ea1c74a937ced09e7fb152c", "summary": "Comments", "tags": [ "news", "vibecoding", "web" ], "title": "A sustainable web career, for when all this blows over", "url": "https://aggr.aymericbeaumet.com/items/lobste-rs/2026-10-06-a-sustainable-web-career-for-when-all-this-blows-over/" }, { "authors": [ { "name": "dbushell.com via diktomat" } ], "content_html": "

Quick note before we begin: this is the first of two posts I’m publishing today. You’re welcome to skip ahead to: Shin honkaku — it’s far more fun!

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I’ve waited long enough! I’ve entertained one “wait six months” too many!

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The TL;DR for my updated AI policy has changed:

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- I do not currently use AI for professional work.\n+ I do not and will not use AI.\n
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The absolute vileness of the AI industrial complex knows no bounds.

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Beyond morality — because let’s be honest few care — it’s very simple:

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There is no worthwhile career in AI-anything.

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Simple as that. The AI industry is designed to dehumanise and commoditise labour. Everyone who has dedicated their life to token servitude has become a dull fungible meat proxy.

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The software and web development industries are leading this brain drain. I’ve observed devs go from the giddy thrills of gambling with their employer’s tokens, to the depressing realisation that they’ve been fooled by a small group of grifters and influencers.

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So many developers are giving up. Many have literally left the industry unable to find meaningful employment. Many more have figuratively quiet-quit. They clock in to babysit chatbots with no incentive to care about the output beyond quantity.

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I’m done pretending there is any hope for the AI industry to redeem itself.

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I’m moving on to more interesting things. Barring a monumental power shift, collapse of the industrial complex, and rise in free range grass-fed “local AI” (lol) I won’t be looking back. Wake me up if anything changes!

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What does that mean, practically?

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In practice

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First and foremost I will continue to build websites for real people. I set up shop as a limited company after a decade of freelancing to bolster my commitment.

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I will observe the AI industrial complex cautiously from afar, but I won’t allow the bullshit I see to rage-bait me. There will be times I’m obliged to call out egregious insults to my profession. Otherwise, I’ll strive to ignore the echo chamber to protect my mental health.

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I am distancing myself from peers I once respected who are all-in on chatbots†. It is not my task to help them. I have no interest in anyone wilfully funding billionaires’ fantasies. There are new people to meet who respect humanity.

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I feel happier about my future now. There is no longer any lingering doubt. The perpetual tech circus may be a threat to my patience and sanity but it won’t take my career.

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So to immediately move on to more interesting things: my latest obsession is shin honkaku detective fiction! I’d highly recommend The Tokyo Zodiac Murders by Sōji Shimada, and The Moai Island Puzzle by Alice Arisugawa — both satisfying reads.

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Read part two of today’s double feature: Shin honkaku!

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† Edit: originally I wrote “lost to chatbot psychosis” here. A poor turn of phrase given the context. It wasn’t meant literally, and I should not be using it derogatorily. I very much empathise with victims of AI. Chalk it up to frustration with the industry and trying to edit multiple thoughts down to keep this brief.

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